APOLIPOPROTEIN-E GENOTYPE EPSILON-4 EPSILON-2 IN THE STANISLAS COHORTSTUDY - DOMINANCE OF THE EPSILON-2 ALLELE/

Apolipoprotein (apo) E has been discussed as a marker for cardiovascul ar risk, but information about lipid traits in healthy individuals hav ing one of the rare apoE genotypes (epsilon 4/epsilon 2, epsilon 2/eps ilon 2 or epsilon 4/epsilon 4) is scarce. Our work was designed to ans wer the following questions: 1.Are the allelic effects of epsilon 2 an d epsilon 4 on lipid traits additive or dominant? 2.If there is additi vity, do the allelic effects of epsilon 2 and epsilon 4 have the same magnitude? 3.Are the allelic effects neutralised in epsilon 4/epsilon 2 individuals who are under the influence of both rare alleles? Alleli c effects on apoB and apoE serum levels were codominant. Allelic model s are thus not adequate to study the influence of apoE polymorphism on these traits. Allelic effects were additive for total cholesterol, LD L-C, HDL-C and apoAI, with epsilon 2 having a greater impact than epsi lon 4. Serum levels differed significantly between epsilon 4/epsilon 2 and epsilon 3/epsilon 3 individuals only for apoE (p <0.001) and for apoB (P <0.05).